Friday, 31 January 2014

Just finished my minor contribution to the January newsletter of the Association of Coroplastic Studies and forwarded it to professor emerita Jaimee Uhlenbrock (State Univerity of New York at New Paltz). The article is a short version of a a bigger research project I´m working on.

This interesting piece of news somehow escaped me in the late autumn of 2013. The items seem to belong to a previously unknown creamation burial site ("below flat ground"). Here are a few pics of the finds and a few links to articles (in Finnish).

Friday, 24 January 2014

Archaeological excavations were carried out in Helsinki City Center in the late fall of 2012. Part of the Senaatintori square used to be a graveyard in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The excavated area was situated in the left hand corner of this panorama picture.

The excavations were rescue excavations conducted because of a break in the pipe system underneath the square. The textile fragments found during the excavation are now out of the conservation laboratory. The textiles date to around 1600-1700 AD. Below is a link to a short article about the conservation process of the textiles (in Finnish). All the pictures below by courtesy of Helsinki City Museum.

Today I had the the fine opportunity of lecturing about the profession of archaeology at Gymnasiet Lärkan in Helsinki to a group of very motivated senior students. What a wonderful experience :). I hope to see at least some of them attend my excavations during the incoming summer!

Despite of the recession there still seems to to be an interest in history among the students, many of which were very much aware of the recent developments in historical/medieval archaeology. Another field of interest today was about the ethics of the excavation of graves.

The bad reputation of the National Board of Antiquities in Finland seems to have been inherited quite well from previous generations. When asked, not one of the students had anything positive to say about this important National institution. When I asked about a negative impressions of "Museovirasto" several hands flung up. Personally I can´t but wonder how things have come to this, but maybe it´s just simply a case of resistance of authorities.

On the contrast to this the respect for the Universities and the education given there seem to be on a good maybe "traditionally too good" or high level.

Wednesday, 8 January 2014

The article is only in Finnish but I will translate it to English shortly. The article is written by the "Finnish national broadcasting company (YLE). Great job! The team goes under the name of "Kanta-Hämeen menneisyyden etsijät"

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

in search of prehistoric artefacts (in lumps of soil as in this case) may prove very successfull :). This nice item was originally discovered at an excavation of the Viking burial site (a long barrow) in Lilleberge Norway by a British archaeologist in the 1880´s.

Metal detectorists in Finland have reported a number of interesting finds during the last year. The media and also this blog have covered the finds of a gold ring in Espoo, a bronze-age axe in Kemiö and the iron age grave with two swords from Janakkala. The news of the great finds have skyrocketed the number of people who are into metal detecting in Finland.

Sadly I just received this bad news from Turku. I hope that the National Board of Antiquities ore someone else with authority would start coordinating the work with the people who are into this hobby. It is not only a matter of protecting the prehistoric and historic sites but also a question about where to find the money to pay for the multitude of items sent in by the enthusiasts in hope of a fast cash reward for valuable finds.

I hope that the media would cover the subject with care and talk less about the cash value of the finds and instead focus on the possibilities of serious co-operation between the people into metal detecting and professional archaeologists. I see metal detecting as a great opportunity for archaeology but also as a great threat if it´s just treasure hunting for cash (although reported to authorities). The example below isn´t either, it is simply criminal.